Over the course of this semester, I've created several different genres all focused on the topic of astrology. These genres came together in a lovely whole and suring this process, I was able to meet the course goals for my English class. To illustrate how I met these goals, I will show specific example from my project that helped me meet each individual goal.
A. Students will be able to compose for particular audiences and purposes Writing for all different types of purposes and audiences is a very useful skill to have. I feel as though this project helped me a great deal in achieving this skill. This is highlighted very well in my comic strips. The purpose of a comic strip is for it to be informative yet entertaining. In one of my comics, I showed one character asking the other, "why do you believe in astrology?" The other character replied with an extremely lengthy description of why he believes in the field and why others may possibly believe in it to. The clever ending I came up with, was to bring attention to the fact that they were comic characters. I did this by making the first character respond with, "don't ever misuse your word bubble like that again." The purpose was fulfilled because of the content of the character's response as to why he believes in astrology, yet it was also entertaining to the audience. The audience of a comic strip is usually people who are looking for a good laugh without reading too much. I meet this aspect of the goal with my comic strip by keeping them short and sweet and to the point. Also, the language must be altered slightly in a comic strip so that people of all ages can read and enjoy it
B. Students will be able to compose using language and conventions appropriate to the genre Using language that is appropriate for the genre that you are composing can be a difficult task at times. You must review example of the genre of which you are writing, then adapt that into your own work. An example of how I met this goal in my own project can be seen in my advice column. I had to write in a more personal and informal manner. This may sound easy, but it is not. I had to read other examples of advice columns and focus on the way that they were written. I noticed that they were all written as if the person was talking. That use of informal language gave the column a genuine feel. I adapted this into my own advice column by using language like, "just as an FYI" and "ahhh, a libra, huh?" These phrases sound like they were someone's spoken words and that makes the piece seem personal.
C. Students will be able to read, select, and use evidence critically to formulate and support arguments While writing any piece, it is important to use evidence properly and also to use evidence that will aid you to support your argument. This project challenged me to do just that. This goal was met mainly in my professional genre. In this genre, it is necessary to show what previous research has been done on your topic in a section called, "Literature Review". Before writing this section of my professional genre, I had to do a great deal of reading through research and evidence that showed that astrology has no scientific background. I wanted this section to strictly be focused on just the work that was done to disprove the field. I had to carefully selected only the evidence that supported this argument. For example, I chose to use a study done by Karen Samfield. Her study concluded that horoscopes were only correct 1 out of 12 times, making this a perfect piece of evidence to use to support my argument.
D. Students will be able to interpret and compose in a variety of media and print/non-print genres The ability to interpret and compose in a multitude of genres is an outstanding and very resourceful ability to have. In my English class, I was able to meet this goal and obtain this ability. Whether it be media, print, or non-print, I can successfully interpret each using the C.R.A.P. method taught in class. C.R.A.P. is an acronym for Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity. To highlight how I met this course goal, one should take a look at the horoscope readings that I composed. I used contrast by making each sign and it’s corresponding dates in red text, then the horoscope under it is in black text. Repetition was met by continuing this pattern with every sign. The alignment aspect can be seen in how I aligned all of horoscopes with the one next to it. And finally, I kept each of the horoscopes short sweet to ensure that the proximity would look professional and not cluttered.
E. Students will be able to discuss and apply writing processes both individually and in collaborative contexts When composing a piece of writing, it is important to be able to review and edit your work both individually and in a group. Editing your own work and being able to take others comments and apply them to your work is an extremely valuable goal that I met during my English class. One example of how I met this course goal was participating in weekly peer review sessions. During these sessions, a small group of students read my work and gave me feedback in order to improve. Only comment I received on my professional genre was to add pie charts to my Results/Findings section in order to illustrate my point. It’s one thing to read information and numbers, but putting them into a visually appealing chart is much better.
^MY MAGAZINE^
Over the course of this semester, I've created several different genres all focused on the topic of astrology. These genres came together in a lovely whole and suring this process, I was able to meet the course goals for my English class. To illustrate how I met these goals, I will show specific example from my project that helped me meet each individual goal.
A. Students will be able to compose for particular audiences and purposes
Writing for all different types of purposes and audiences is a very useful skill to have. I feel as though this project helped me a great deal in achieving this skill. This is highlighted very well in my comic strips.
The purpose of a comic strip is for it to be informative yet entertaining. In one of my comics, I showed one character asking the other, "why do you believe in astrology?" The other character replied with an extremely lengthy description of why he believes in the field and why others may possibly believe in it to. The clever ending I came up with, was to bring attention to the fact that they were comic characters. I did this by making the first character respond with, "don't ever misuse your word bubble like that again." The purpose was fulfilled because of the content of the character's response as to why he believes in astrology, yet it was also entertaining to the audience.
The audience of a comic strip is usually people who are looking for a good laugh without reading too much. I meet this aspect of the goal with my comic strip by keeping them short and sweet and to the point. Also, the language must be altered slightly in a comic strip so that people of all ages can read and enjoy it
B. Students will be able to compose using language and conventions appropriate to the genre
Using language that is appropriate for the genre that you are composing can be a difficult task at times. You must review example of the genre of which you are writing, then adapt that into your own work.
An example of how I met this goal in my own project can be seen in my advice column. I had to write in a more personal and informal manner. This may sound easy, but it is not. I had to read other examples of advice columns and focus on the way that they were written. I noticed that they were all written as if the person was talking. That use of informal language gave the column a genuine feel. I adapted this into my own advice column by using language like, "just as an FYI" and "ahhh, a libra, huh?" These phrases sound like they were someone's spoken words and that makes the piece seem personal.
C. Students will be able to read, select, and use evidence critically to formulate and support arguments
While writing any piece, it is important to use evidence properly and also to use evidence that will aid you to support your argument. This project challenged me to do just that.
This goal was met mainly in my professional genre. In this genre, it is necessary to show what previous research has been done on your topic in a section called, "Literature Review". Before writing this section of my professional genre, I had to do a great deal of reading through research and evidence that showed that astrology has no scientific background. I wanted this section to strictly be focused on just the work that was done to disprove the field. I had to carefully selected only the evidence that supported this argument. For example, I chose to use a study done by Karen Samfield. Her study concluded that horoscopes were only correct 1 out of 12 times, making this a perfect piece of evidence to use to support my argument.
D. Students will be able to interpret and compose in a variety of media and print/non-print genres
The ability to interpret and compose in a multitude of genres is an outstanding and very resourceful ability to have. In my English class, I was able to meet this goal and obtain this ability.
Whether it be media, print, or non-print, I can successfully interpret each using the C.R.A.P. method taught in class. C.R.A.P. is an acronym for Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity. To highlight how I met this course goal, one should take a look at the horoscope readings that I composed. I used contrast by making each sign and it’s corresponding dates in red text, then the horoscope under it is in black text. Repetition was met by continuing this pattern with every sign. The alignment aspect can be seen in how I aligned all of horoscopes with the one next to it. And finally, I kept each of the horoscopes short sweet to ensure that the proximity would look professional and not cluttered.
E. Students will be able to discuss and apply writing processes both individually and in collaborative contexts
When composing a piece of writing, it is important to be able to review and edit your work both individually and in a group. Editing your own work and being able to take others comments and apply them to your work is an extremely valuable goal that I met during my English class.
One example of how I met this course goal was participating in weekly peer review sessions. During these sessions, a small group of students read my work and gave me feedback in order to improve. Only comment I received on my professional genre was to add pie charts to my Results/Findings section in order to illustrate my point. It’s one thing to read information and numbers, but putting them into a visually appealing chart is much better.